Calcareous tube-dwelling encrusting polychaetes from a lower-middle Miocene sedimentary succession, Cairo-Suez District, Egypt

 

Authors: Mandor M, Vinn O, El Hedeny M, El-Sabbagh A, Abdelaal A, Rashwan M

Published in: Bulletin of Geosciences, volume 97, issue 2; pages: 203 - 217; Received 5 December 2021; Accepted in revised form 22 February 2022; Online 13 March 2022

Keywords: polychaetes, systematics, palaeoecology, palaeobiogeography, Miocene, Northeast Africa,

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Abstract

This work represents the first systematic study of fossil calcareous tube-dwelling encrusting polychaetes to be conducted in Egypt. A total of 396 polychaete specimens were reported from the lower and middle Miocene Gharra and Geniefa formations, respectively, exposed at the Gebel Gharra section, Cairo-Suez District, Egypt. The tubeworms have been found attached to shells of oysters followed by pectinid shells, but there are few other gastropods and corals having rare attached tubes. At least nine polychaete taxa, belonging to eight genera, have been identified and systematically described. The tubeworm association is dominated by Hydroides (39.9% of the total polychaete specimens), Filograna (25.8%), Spirobranchus (12.6%), Hyalopomatus (10.6%), and Glomerula (8.1%). Stratigraphically, Hydroides sp. and spirorbid worms were exclusively reported from the lower Miocene succession; Protula? sp. from the middle Miocene, whereas the remaining species (Filograna cf. implexa, Hyalopomatus? sp., Hydroides cf. elegans, Protis? sp., Spirobranchus cf. triqueter and Glomerula? sp.) were reported from lower?middle Miocene sediments. Only fully marine polychaete species occur in the association, characterizing shallow subtropical marine conditions. The species reported show palaeobiogeographical affinities with the Miocene of Italy, Austria, and Slovakia and are characteristic of present-day Atlantic-Mediterranean regions.

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